


Mercury

by RonnieIByrne



Category: Anne of Green Gables (TV 1985) & Related Fandoms, Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Dancing, F/M, Gilbert yearning RIGHTS, I reworked it, I wanted another dancing scene, ITS ABOUT THE YEARNING, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and they get a little time together at the end, and we didn't get it it, gold star if anyone can recognize the Greta Gerwig Little women reference, period typical longing, so I wrote it my damn self, so that only a few things changed, wrote this between 3x09 and 3x10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:08:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23591353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RonnieIByrne/pseuds/RonnieIByrne
Summary: Gilbert groaned. Only he and Anne could make something so simple so complicated. “This is a mess, Diana!”“It can be fixed,” she said urgently. She caught the look of someone behind them and then grinned. “Just go with it,” she whispered.When he spun her again, she spun out of his arms and in fell someone else.“Anne.”
Relationships: Cole Mackenzie & Anne Shirley, Diana Barry & Anne Shirley, Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley, Matthew Cuthbert & Anne Shirley
Comments: 22
Kudos: 212





	Mercury

Gilbert joined the party for the recent Avonlea graduates watching the amusing scene of Mrs. Barry as a proud mother. He thought it was rich. They didn’t change their tune about Diana’s “embarrassment” until Josephine had threatened to pull financial support from her and her husband if they forced Diana into finishing school in Paris. Conveniently, Mr. and Mrs. Barry turned nothing but proud of their eldest daughter for passing the Queens entrance exams after that. 

They held it outside on the grounds of the Barry’s residence, a surprisingly warm night for the beginning of the harvest. Mrs. Barry had decorated the gardens to be overflowing with flowers. Candles and tea lights spread around made the scene look like something Anne would call romantic. He supposed it was, especially when he kept staring at her so.

He tactfully avoided Mr. Barry, trying to keep what happened in Charlottetown from the rest of Avonlea until after tonight, otherwise the rest of the night would be about his failed courtship instead of the graduating class.

After the letter he’d left a few days ago, no matter how heartfelt it was, he’d hoped that they could at least stay friends. He’d let his heart get in the way of his friendship with her. Her friendship was the most important thing to him, and he’d lost it with his rushed words at the bonfire last week. She’d looked at him like the idea had frightened her, sputtering about how they ‘couldn’t’. No conversation had broken his heart more. Not even his departure with Winifred, who told him that while she wished to be friends, it would take her a while to get to that point, had been more painful. He’d disappointed her. 

What’s worse, he was sure he’d disappointed a lot of people, dead and alive. He’d disappointed Bash, and by the looks he was getting from the Cuthberts, he’d disappointed them as well. He knew his father would be displeased with his actions of late. Mary was probably rolling in her grave. 

The last one hurt the most to think about. Mary’s dying wish for him was for him to marry for love and he had nearly married for convenience instead, for an easy way out. He was ashamed. Mary, for the short wonderful time she’d been in his life, had acted like a cross between a mother and a sister to him, and he’d come so close to throwing away her memory. 

That morning he’d left Avonlea, having finally made a decision for the course of his future, he’d also made the decision to be better. To make better choices for himself and to never compromise his beliefs- or his feelings- again.

He’d snuck into the party, hanging in the back away from the band and the dance floor so he wouldn’t be seen by many. Moody had spotted him but he’d asked the aspiring minister to keep his presence to himself. The boy looked confused when he’d asked, but didn’t question why, and for that Gilbert was grateful. It made it possible for him to stare off at Anne and admire her unaware, like a last farewell to a beauty who’d never want to speak to him again. How many more times could he look at her without seeing anger or disgust on her face? He wanted to bask in the opportunity. 

She was beautiful, but she always was. Something about her was different though. Grown up. He supposed it was the effect of the dress she was wearing. It was made of a deep blue velvet with golden lace trimmings. It was more whimsical than anything the other girls were wearing. Among a sea of proper young women, Anne looked like an ethereal vision from a fairy tale. Her hair reflected off the candles in the same manner it had done the night of the exams with the fire. He was enraptured.

Her smile was his favourite thing about her. They say eyes are a window into the soul, but Gilbert swore he saw her entire being when her lips changed shape, each quirk showing a different side. In her smirk he saw her mischievous side, the side that devised a plan to save their teacher, a plan that included jumping a freighter. In her bright smile, the one with wide eyes, he saw the passion, her tenacity and strength, her incredible perseverance. Her small warm smile revealed the love in her soul, her ability to connect with anyone no matter background, station, or past. Her incredible heart allowed for the acceptance of those society would cast away. Her perfect lips created a patchwork quilt of traits that came together to make 

The pang in his heart as he looked upon her reminded him that soon he might get confirmation of the status of their relationship, whatever that meant, was over for good.

He wished he had Mr. Roses brandy. 

He cursed under his breath, a decision which Gilbert immediately regretted. 

“Gilbert!” 

Charlie Sloane had caught sight of him and was waving him over. He winced and involuntarily looked in Anne’s direction. She wasn’t looking in toward them, but he’d watched Anne enough over the years to know she was stiff, and she was gripping Diana’s arm. He caught the shorter girls glare before he turned back to Charlie. 

He gave him as bracing of a smile as he could manage, feeling the eye of everyone in Avonlea on him. He was suddenly upset that Dellie had gotten sick and Bash insisted he stay home. Realistically, he knew if it was his child he’d want to be home as well, but he suddenly and very childishly wanted his brother. 

“Ah, Gilbert! Welcome back, lad!” exclaimed Mr. Barry, making Gilbert internally groan. He was not who he needed to be forced into interacting with at the moment. “How was your visit to Charlottetown?” he inquired with a broad and smug smile. “When should we expect the invitation?”

This was it. He’d given Winnie the allotted two weeks, and he couldn’t bear to wait any longer. He felt like he was living a lie. 

Which, to be fair, the entire time he was courting Winnie, he was indeed living a lie, a lie where he wasn’t incredibly in love with someone else.

He cleared his throat and started to speak when Mr. Barry spoke again. 

“Millicent if you could bring the champagne out, I think a toast is in order-“

He heard a noise from across the room and he turned to watch as Anne pushed past Diana, Ruby and Cole and hurried around the side of the house. He wanted to go after her, but was trying not to make a huge scene. Cole looked over and eyed him as Diana rushed after her. He tried to give Cole a pleading look. 

He turned briefly to Mr. Barry, steeling himself and smiling a little. 

“Actually Mr. Barry, I won’t be getting married.” He heard the murmurs of everyone else, but looked over and watched as Cole's eyes widened. “I- I mean we, Winifred and I, decided we’d be best suited for  
.” He almost rolled his eyes at Cole's smug smile. 

Mr. Barry looked shocked. “Well what about Paris?” he inquired. 

Gilbert smiled, thinking about the letter from Dr. Oak. “There are other ways to achieve my dreams, other than don’t take me so far from home at the moment.”

He felt bad that Mr. Barry passed around the champagne for him to announce he wasn’t engaged, and so even though he wanted to run off and find Anne, he graciously accepted the toast, now to the graduating class, and hoped that in ending one relationship, he hadn’t ruined another.

* * *

When Charlie shouted his name, it felt like an ice pick through her heart. Why was he here? He’d went to Charlottetown weeks ago - 24 days, 7 hours and 13 minutes if she was counting, which she wasn’t- what was he doing here? 

She grabbed on to Diana’s arm and gripped as hard as steel, trying to steady her dizzying head. It got worse the moment Mr. Barry started asking about Charlottetown in a sky, obvious way to ask about his impending engagement. As soon as she heard ‘invitation’, she knew she had to get out of there. She couldn’t stay for the toast, she couldn’t stand being in there while they raised glasses to her impending loneliness. She loved Gilbert, enough to let him go, but she had limits to how much she’d let her heart break in one night. 

She knew she had probably knocked something over, and had it been any other day she might have had the graciousness to be sheepish or apologetic, but the neck of Marillas new gown was making her throat hot and her vocal chords constrict. Any more and she’d break down in tears.

When she made it around to a quiet, cooler place, and felt the relief of the cool summer air, she thought she might feel better but she didn’t, she just felt worse. The farther she got from him, now that she had been closer to him than she had been in weeks, the more upset she felt.

“Anne!” 

She registered that it was Diana calling for her and hastily wiped her eyes. 

“Anne?” Diana came up with a sad sort of look. “Come back to the party” She took her hand and squeezed softly. 

“Diana, I really can’t stand to listen to that-“

“If you stay out here you’ll only cause more questions for yourself. It’ll be easier for you if you come back in now.” Anne knew she was making sense but her heart refused to follow through. 

“He doesn’t deserve your love if this is how he handles it, Anne...” Diana whispered. “You are worthy of so much more than this heartbreak.”

Anne nodded. She swallowed down the sob, feeling as though she was pushing down an entire mountain of feelings. She shook herself out and tried for a smile, and followed Diana back around to the party.

She rebuffed the questions of Ruby and her other friends and tried to put on a brave face. Cole on the other hand had a calculating and contemplative look on him she didn’t like. 

“You don’t have to do anything harsh to him,” she said. “I can handle him fine on my own.”

“Oh I assure you I am not going to do anything harsh to Gilbert Blythe,” Cole replied wryly. 

“Why would he do anything to Gilbert?” Josie questioned. “All he did was announce that he-“

“Oh no reason,” Cole interrupted. Anne silently thanked him for sparing her the heart ache of hearing engagement. 

Suddenly, though he wasn't sure how or why, Mrs. Barry organised a line dance. It was fancier and much more formal than the dashing white sergeant dance they’d learned for the fair. Much more intimate. 

Cole asked for her hand. 

“Oh no Cole, I couldn’t-“ she tried to protest as her friends were pulled away by suitors. Diana hurried away and she tried to follow where her bosom friend went but lost her as she argued with Cole. 

“You’re dancing and you have no choice. It’s just like I taught you and Diana come on.”

Begrudgingly she followed him and joined the line forming in the middle. She looked over at Cole to glare at him only to be onslaught with the sight of Gilbert and Diana. She was whispering to him frantically and angrily while he in turn looked confused but curious.

* * *

Gilbert was surprised when Diana grabbed his arm and roughly pulled him into the line he had intended to avoid. 

“What in gods name possessed you to show up here like this?” she whispered furiously to him. 

“Like what?” he retorted. “Your father invited me and I came-“

“You should’ve had the grace to stay away.” Diana huffed. “Anne is going through too much right now the least you could’ve done save her the humiliation of having to celebrate your engagement.” Gilbert was stumped. What humiliation was she talking about? 

“Humiliation? Diana I have no idea what you’re-“

The dance started suddenly but Diana kept going. 

“The nerve of you to go on how you did at the bonfire while she was clearly inebriated, accepting drunken ramblings as a clear rejection-“ Gilbert swallowed, feeling quite well abashed. “Not to mention now you led her on with the dance practice and then brought some mystery debutante who you’d been secretly courting and completely gutting Anne in front of everyone.” When Diana was turned to him and they were spinning, she said, “And ignoring the note she gave you telling you she loved you? Despicable.”

He didn’t know how he didn’t completely stop dancing altogether. He just stared at her, gaping. 

“What letter?” He demanded. “Diana what letter?”

She looked confused. “You... You never got it?” 

He stared at her. “You’re asking me if I never got what would prove to be the greatest letter I’ll ever receive? No,” he insisted. “I never got any letter.”

Diana’s face turned to sadness. “And now you’re engaged...” 

He shook his head. “I’m not. I broke it off, I couldn’t go through with it.”

“So when you went to Charlottetown-“ she started, eyes widened.

“I was ending things with Winnifred,” he explained. 

She squinted her eyes, and he was sure if they weren’t dancing or in a crowd, she might have hit him. “Why have you waited until now to say anything?”

“She asked me to. She said she wanted to be out of town before everyone knew. She asked me for two weeks to get her affairs in order so she could leave for Paris, and after everything...” Gilbert sighed and looked away. “Diana, I made colossal mistakes. And I treated Winnifred truly horribly and it was the least I could do.” He sighed again and twirled her in step with the music. “I went to the Cuthberts to see her last week but no one was home. I left a letter, telling her everything but-“

Diana gasped with a falling face. “She... Well I shouldn’t reveal her strictest confidences, but she didn’t read it.”

He groaned. Only he and Anne could make something so simple so complicated. “This is a mess, Diana!” 

“It can be fixed,” she said urgently. She caught the look of someone behind them and then grinned. “Just go with it,” she whispered. 

When he spun her again, she spun out of his arms and in fell someone else.

“ _Anne_."

She looked up at him like a frightened animal and froze. He worked to keep the dance moving until she shook herself from her stupor. 

She looked away from him suddenly and he saw her jaw clench. “Mr. Blythe.” 

He tried not to flinch with the coldness in her voice. 

“Anne, we really need to talk,” he said softly. He tried to stay serious and pay attention while they swayed to the music but he found it increasingly hard. Dancing with Diana was nothing like dancing with Anne was. 

“If It’s all the same to you, I really think we shouldn’t,” she snapped. He caught the red in her eyes and the weary look on her face. He’d made her cry. He wanted to kick himself. 

“Please,” he pleaded. “Anne please just hear me out, listen to what I have to say and if you still feel as if you never want to speak to me again, I’ll honor your wishes.” 

She looked back up at him. She looked so vulnerable yet so guarded and it hurt him to know he was the reason. 

God this had all turned to such a mess. 

She seemed to be searching his eyes for something. She was quiet a moment before nodding. 

Gilbert didn’t even wait for the dance to end, he just grabbed her hand and drug her out of the sea of people and around to the front of the house. 

When the band was faint and the sounds of the party dull, he turned to her, cutting her off before she could say even one word.

“I’m not engaged.”

* * *

She blinked. What had he just said?

“W-What?” 

“I’m not engaged. I couldn’t be.” His voice was so desperate, and Anne watched his hand reach out toward her only pull back, like he thought it was a bad idea. She couldn’t discern for herself whether she thought it to be one or not.

“But I don’t understand... Diana said you’d come to her father to talk about the ring and then the le-“

“When I went to see Mr. Barry.... Yes, I had intentions to ask her to marry me.” He looked away. “Seemingly good intentions, for the wrong reasons....”

“The wrong reasons?” Anne was beyond confused now, every moment of her life for the last two weeks unravelling like a pulled thread. 

“I thought she could take me away from this place, away from... The pain I had been feeling.” He looked down at his feet, his newsboy hat in his hands. Her heart hurt for the knowledge he’d been in pain. “Between losing my father and then Mary, and then you...”

She closed her eyes. “Gilbert, I beg of you to explain what you mean.”

“I know that I may have made things... Awful for you. The night of exams... Anne I shouldn’t have come to you like I did, I didn’t realise what I was doing. I was just confused and conflicted-“ 

“I don’t blame you for that, Gilbert. I wasn’t exactly articulate with my words-“

“How could you have been? You were drunk, Anne.” He gave her a sad sort of smile, and she chuckled a little. She nodded at him to continue and he did.

“After you told me you couldn’t, I tried to convince myself I could move on. It wasn’t successful.” He cleared his throat. “A few days later, I realised I didn’t love her as I should. I wouldn’t ever love her, not when my heart was... Somewhere else.” 

He lifted his head to look at her then, and the emotion in his expression knocked the wind out of her. She clenched at her stomach and ordered her lungs to breathe. 

He came closer and took her shaking hand in his. “So I went to Charlottetown to break it off. To tell Winnie the truth, she deserved at least that. And much more.” He sounded so disappointed in himself. 

He looked back at her and because of the risk of ruining this, at last, moment of truth between them, Anne held back from throwing herself into his suit-clad arms, instead focusing on gripping his hands tight enough to prove this was happening and he was here in front of her, saying these beautiful things. 

“But why didn’t you tell me?” she whispered, desperate and confused. “You went two weeks ago-“

“Winnifred asked me to give her these last two weeks before making any announcement. She didn’t want to be on the island when the news broke, and I don’t blame her.” He shook his head. “I made a mess of things, trying to figure out the better feelings of my heart, and I’d ruined so much.” 

“Gilbert, it was better to understand that now, rather than down the road... After you’d married her or had children with her,” she reasoned softly. 

He nodded at her, giving her a warm yet sheepish smile. “That’s what I told her.” He sighed. “And that’s the thing... Anne, I did tell you. I wrote you that letter-“ she grimaced, “which Diana told me you didn’t read, though she didn’t tell me why.”

She wrapped her arms around herself. “The morning that the cleanup of the schoolhouse started... I’d been stewing over the night at the ruins for days. I was drunk, and I told you to marry her and I realised that I shouldn’t have done that and I ran over to tell you-“ 

“And I wasn’t there, I’d gone to help-“ His eyes were wide. 

“I left a note with Bash’s mother-“

This time she didn’t have to stop herself from throwing herself at him, because he moved himself. He let go of one of her hands and cupped her face. The sudden proximity made it almost hard to breathe and sent shivers down her spine. “Anne, I never got a letter. I promise. I don’t know what happened to it, but I never got it.” 

She swallowed, believing him. “And then later, I’d went over to figure out why you’d never responded, Diana had told me you’d decided to marry her after all, but you weren’t there, Bash said you’d went to Charlottetown that morning-“

“That was when I had ended things with her.” She nodded. 

“So you... Have to understand that I thought you’d ignored it. And then when we were at Ms. Stacys for the results, you hadn’t said a word and then you’d left what I assumed to be a note telling me you didn’t have feelings for me in my room with MY pen and I thought you couldn’t face me so I-“ Shame coursed through her as she remembered her temper getting the best of her again. She bit her lip. “In a fit of anger I... Ripped it up.” 

She waited a moment to look up at Gilbert. He wasn’t saying anything. She continued, aware of her pitiful rambling but unable to stop. 

“And as soon as I realised I’d ripped up your words and I didn’t know what you’d said for sure and I’d possibly misinterpreted I tried to piece it back together-“

He slowly smiled. 

“Gilbert...”

The smile fell into a grin which caused him to laugh once, and then twice. Soon he was doubled over in laughter. 

She couldn’t find the humor in this situation, in this colossal mess they’d made for themselves—

“Only you’d make it so hard for someone to tell you they are in love with you, Carrots.” 

She stared at him open mouthed. 

“I don’t understand-“

“Anne...” He stepped forward and reached up to cup her cheek again and it was no less thrilling than the first time he’d done so. “That letter... I went there to see you. To tell you the truth in person. It said that I wasn’t engaged, that I couldn’t be engaged, unless...” 

The air stuck in her throat. “Unless... What?”

He chuckled. “Unless It’s to you.” 

She held on to his arm to steady herself. She was certain she was dreaming, that she was imaging this... Magnificently romantic conversation. She looked up at him and he was staring back down at her. She was sure she could see the entire world in his eyes.... 

“What did your letter say, Anne?” he whispered. 

“That...” Anne stumbled on her words a bit, laughing a little at the absurdity of all of this, “That well.... I love you, too.” 

His lips tipped up in a small smile, as did Anne’s. She felt her heart expand like it wanted to burst out of her chest. She felt the uncontrollable desire to giggle.

“I thought I’d never hear you say it,” Anne whispered. “Thought you’d never feel the same-“

“If I have to say it a thousand times in a thousand ways to convince you, I promise I shall.” His arms that held hers snaked around her waist and pulled her close against him. “I love you... My Anne with an E.”

She thought she might be crying already, and if she hadn’t been she knew she would now. 

“Say that again.” 

“My Anne with an E,” he said reverently. 

He reached up and held her head in his hands and pressed his lips to hers softly. 

For all her imagination had worked up scenarios of this moment, of her first kiss, nothing compared to this, to him wrapping his arms around her again, pulling her ever closer, flush even, though she was sure that couldn’t be done. Of the texture of his curls between her fingers as she gently ran her hand through them, finally getting to experience what she’d spent hours day dreaming about during one particular Queens study session. 

Of the knowledge that he loved her as she loved him. Completely and totally. 

They pulled apart just long enough to breathe for a moment. Gilbert rested his forehead against hers. 

“What about the Sorbonne?” she asked him. 

“For now I’ll be attending the University of Toronto,” he said. “One day I might get there, and I’ll never stop dreaming of it, but if I do it will be on my own terms and not because of anyone else.” 

“Anne, Gilbert-“ 

Cole was peeking around the corner of a shrub. Anne blushed and smoothed out her now rumpled dressed and he straightened and smirked at them.

“Sorry to intrude-“ Anne snorted. Sure he was. “But Marilla is looking for Anne and sooner or later someone is going to notice you’re gone too, Gilbert. Better get back around soon.” 

He disappeared and Anne felt Gilbert's chest shake in laughter. 

“We shouldn’t... Not here-“

“Anne It’s alright.” Gilbert smiled. “I’ll come by tomorrow, okay?” She nodded. “When do you leave?” 

Anne frowned. “Next Saturday. What about you?” 

“About two days after that.” 

“Not much time...” she lamented. 

“We have a few days. Better than the alternative of parting ways still so confused,” he pointed out. 

He pulled her close one more time and Anne melted. The taste of him, the feel of him wrapped around her, was sure to fortify her for the rest of the evening.

* * *

The precious few days they had together following the Barry’s party were both wonderful and awful for her romantic heart. The need to balance spending time with each other and spending time with their families meant most nights leading up to Anne’s departure, either the Cuthberts would have dinner at Gilbert and Bash’s or the other way around. Following dinner, Anne and her new beau spent the sunset walking along Lovers Lane and even through the woods. 

Bash had been ecstatic in his teasing of them, and while Gilbert was embarrassed most of the time, Anne could tell he was also pleased. Anne couldn’t find it in her heart to be embarrassed about something that made her the happiest she had been in almost her entire life. 

But this morning was bittersweet as she dressed for the first full time a grown up woman, ready to head to college. Matthew and Jerry, who would be permanently staying with them now that Anne was headed off, had her trunks packed on the wagon, and she could stall no more. 

She said goodbye to Jerry and Marilla at Green Gables while her and Matthew rode to the Bright River Station. Gilbert would be meeting her, and the rest of their classmates she realised, as they boarded the freighter toward Charlottetown. 

“I want you to know,” Matthew started, interrupting her thoughts as Belle trotted along, “that you and Gilbert... You make a fine pair.” He avoided looking at her while he said it, but he smiles nonetheless. Anne scooted close to him and took his arm and leaned her head on his shoulder. 

“Thank you, Matthew,” she whispered, and he patted her hand softly. 

The scene at the station was close to chaos. All of the girls were heading to Queens, and would all be in the same boarding house together. The boys heading as well included Charlie Sloane and Moody Spurgeon, much time Ruby’s never ending delight. 

Anne climbed off the wagon as the girls hollered her name, and the boys came to load her trunk on the train for Matthew. 

“Oh, Anne come here, come here!” Ruby exclaimed, bounding over and giggling. She pulled her by her arms to the rest of the girls. “Can you believe we’re really going now? Off to Charlottetown on our own-“

“We have a matron to obey, Ruby, it isn’t exactly on our own,” Jane said with an eye roll. 

“Still better than under our parents,” Diana said, with a bitter undertone to it. Anne knew that her parents and her had yet to completely mend their relationship. Josie nodded fervently as well. 

“And anyway, think of the balls and the parties we’ll be invited to,” Tillie said with a grin. 

“Has someone decided to broaden their horizons past suitors who’s name starts with a P and ends with an A-U-L?” Josie said slyly, bumping her hip. The girls laughed, though Anne was distracted and started to look around. 

He should be there by now, the train would be leaving soon. They didn’t have much time, and she worried that he’d changed his mind and him not coming to see her off was a sign that they weren’t meant to be-

“Anne?” Diana interrupted her spiralling with a clam hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright?” 

Anne sighed. “It’s just... He promised to be here but he’s late and I’m worried.” 

“If he made a promise he’ll be here, don’t worry.” 

“If who made a promise. Who promised to be here?” Josie said with a frown. “Your farm boy?” 

Anne continued to scan, wrapping an arm around her waist. 

“Anne has a beau-“

“Diana!” she whispered fiercely.

“They were going to find out eventually, especially when he comes running down here to see you off.” 

“Who?” Ruby demanded, eyes glinting. 

Anne blushed and opened to mouth speak when she caught Gilbert riding in and quickly dismounting. Forgetting societal norms and the nagging voice in the back of her head, one that sounded like Mrs. Lynde, scolding her for impropriety, she rushed over and threw her arms around him. He squeezed her tight and took a deep breath. She ignored the exclamations of hers and Gilbert's name as they watched their embrace.

“I thought you weren’t going to make it-“

“I know, I’m so sorry.” He pulled away to look at her. “Elijah’s come back.”

Her jaw dropped. “What? When?” 

“Just this morning. He finally read Mary’s letter and I guess came to his senses. He brought this as well.” Gilbert held out a silver necklace chain with a tiny silver bird as a charm. 

“Oh, Gilbert...”

“He spent his last penny tracking it down and getting it back. He said it was the only thing he was able to retrieve, though he says he has a lead on my fathers medals.” Anne took the necklace in her palm and looked it over. It was dainty but it was beautiful. “It belonged to my mother, my father gave it to her when they were young. It’s a Blue Jay.”

“It’s beautiful, Gilbert.” She smiled up at him and he took her wrist carefully. She watched, confused for a moment before he took her charm bracelet off and attached the blue jay pendant to it and refastened it. 

“So you’ll have a piece of me while we are apart.” He whispered, being her palm up to kiss. She melted and kissed him full on the mouth for as long as she could manage without making a huge scene of themselves. 

“I love you,” she whispered. 

“Anne, we have to go!” Anne looked back and Diana was waving at her, the girls started to board the train. 

“I love you, too,” he whispered. He placed a soft, lingering kiss to her lips and released her. He smiled and nodded at someone behind her. 

Anne turned and hugged Matthew. Tears pricked at her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. 

“Don’t worry, you’ll be back before you know it,” he whispered. 

She walked to the steps to the train before looking over her shoulder. Matthew had stepped up into the wagon, but Gilbert was watching by the pole with a lovesick smile on his face. 

She ran back to him and pulled him back in for a searing kiss, savouring it and memorising the feel of him just as she did the night of the party when they first embraced. He cradled her head in his hands and Anne felt the longing he felt. The train whistled and she forced her self to pull away and hop on the train. 

“Write to me,” he said with a mischievous smile as she turned from the first step. She grinned back at him and laughed. 

“I promise. Likely you’ll remember I have a very nice fountain pen.” She winked and enjoyed the sound of his laughter. She finally dragged herself onto the train and sat by the window next to Diana.

She watched him out for as long as she could, mouthing to him that she loved him, and he mouthed it back. She committed to memory the sight of a windswept Gilbert Blythe standing there watching her leave, remembering all the brave knights she wrote in her stories and in her imaginations and thought that nothing, no incarnation of her fantasies could ever compare to the bright eyed, smirking, academic rival turned lover that she had. She wiped the tear from her eye, smiled to herself and turned to face Diana. 

The girls across from her had raised eyebrows, and Ruby was grinning from ear to ear. 

“Well?” Tillie demanded. “What was that?”

Anne blushed. “He... We’re in love.” 

“Anne!” The girls gasped, and all at once demanded every detail. 

And so Anne, fiddling with the blue jay pendants on her wrist and with a heart so full she thought she might not be able to bear it, told the most romantic story she’d ever tell, as they rode the train to Charlottetown.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back! I started to write this one shot not too long after I finished my other after episode 9. Really it was completely indulgent, I wanted another dance. I also think that there would've been more time between the results and them leaving, at least more than two weeks and I thought there would be some kind of send of party. It's a weird combo of pre ep 10 ideas and post ep 10 ideas. 
> 
> I don't know when my next Anne fic will be, I'm actually working right now on finishing some HP work that's been sitting as drafts for a little while now, so keep an eye out if you a Harry Potter reader as well!
> 
> Special thanks to @delphinelacroix who read over this brain child and helped me work out the ending, and the rest of the Carrots Club discord server, as well as the amazing people on the Ginny Lovers server who inspired and championed me back into writing in the first place. 
> 
> Ao3's hits algorithm has changed so if you're an anon leave a kudos please! I love comments as well, let me know what you think!
> 
> (Soundtrack includes Mercury by Sleeping at Last for the party scene and Heartbeats by José Gonzalez for the train station)


End file.
